Abandoned Child's Requiem
by Lonepichu
Summary: Children are not things to be thrown away. One Sunday morning Charlotte receives a letter of forgiveness that leads her to the town of Silent Hill.
1. Prologe: Destructive Lullaby

It was raining. She walked without an umbrella hugging something I could not see close to her breast. There was purpose to her staggering steps and tears streaming down her face. She kept looking forward, ignoring the people on either side of her that glared at her with hatred. Finally she found herself at the steps of the hospital. She put her precious cargo into her jacket to hide it from everyone's view. She walked purposefully down the familiar hallways until she stopped in front of one of the doors. She pushed it open and walked in. There was a woman lying on the bed in the middle of the room. The girl circled over to her, sticking her hand in her jacket pocket and pulling out her package.

"Josephine, what are you doing here?" the woman asked weakly, looking up into the tear stained eyes.

"I had a package to deliver you," Josephine said flatly. She pulled the clothe from the knife she had been carrying with her.

"What am I supposed to do with that?" The woman looked up, slightly frightened.

"You are supposed to forgive your sins." Josephine raised the knife and brought it down forcefully into the woman.

"Wha-" the woman sputtered.

"Don't you even remember, my dearest mother?" Josephine asked, eyes dancing and hazed. "I'm the monster and monsters kill."

"Wai-"

"No!" Josephine screamed, interrupting the woman as she plunged the knife into her again. "I always wait. I always loved you even though you could never love me. Now I'm just giving you what you deserve." She raised the knife yet again and brought it down with a sickening sound. Blood was flung onto the walls and floor as Josephine viciously stabbed the woman.

"Jo-" The woman's eyes glossed over and she grew limp. It didn't matter. Her sin had yet to be repaid and so Josephine kept stabbing every inch of skin she could find with the blood covered knife. Soon the woman before her looked nothing like a human anymore, but it didn't please her. Soon meat littered the ground along with the blood as Josephine stabbed, making the woman pay for every sin she had committed.

"For a town so religious, you sure sinned a lot." Josephine laughed, stripping the meat away until she dropped the knife, hands shaking. She was covered in just as much blood and bits of the woman as the room around her. She hugged the knife close to her and left the room, leaving foot prints as she walked. Nurses and other patients screamed as they caught sight of the girl walking ever so calmly down the hallway. She didn't even hear them as she walked. None of them knew how to act now that the rumors of her being a monster had come true.

"What have you done?" one of the doctors asked, grabbing her and then pulling his hand away in fright as it, too, became covered in blood.

She held the knife casually as she turned to him. "I only made her pay for every sin she has committed against me." She glared at him and he grabbed at his throat as he began spitting up blood. "It seems you have some sins as well." Josephine turned and continued walking through the hospital, people retching in agony and even dying in her wake. "Sinners, every one of you," she said calmly. No need to mourn the damned.

She exited the hospital and was met by her father. "Josephine, what did you do?" He sounded furious and terrified out of his mind.

"I made her see the pain she's caused. If she wants to say I'm a monster incapable of love, then is it not good manners to prove to her that she's right?" Josephine held up the knife and casually stabbed her father once. "That's for sticking by her."

"Jo, you were always so forgiving and caring. How can you do this?" He coughed and writhed in pain.

"How could a mother stop loving her child? How could a mother not want to hold her child at birth? How could a mother tell her child that she's the one who made her sick and caused her to end up in the hospital? How can you just stand by and let her do this?" Josephine walked away from him, leaving him to whine in pain like a dog.

Shrieks of terror followed Josephine where ever she walked, holding the knife close to her, against her heart. People screamed at the blood covered girl and the knife she held tightly as she approached and whimpered in pain as she passed. No one was free from sin in this town. All the people who had ever dared to look at her in disgust over the lies her dearest mother had spread died in her wake. Women and children alike were passed through her judgment. Most of the children passed the test, sinless. All the adults had something to hide.

There was the crying of a child. Josephine followed the cry and found her new baby brother lying in the ashes on the street. Josephine picked him up and cuddled him close. He too was stained in the sinner's blood. "I love you," Josephine finally said. "I know our mother dearest tried to tell you I didn't and spread those nasty lies of how I hated you, but she will no longer be here to hurt either of us again." Holding him close in one hand and the knife in the other, she walked back through town, looking at the world she'd created, doused in the blood of the sinners. Bodies littered the bloody street. Luckily, the rain was heavy and washed the blood into the sewers. Josephine lifted her hands and noticed she had been washed clean herself, save her clothes which were stained.

"And now we are free as well." Josephine dropped the knife and ran until she reached her house. She entered and locked the door behind her. She then fell to her knees and cried over her cooing baby brother. Sobs that shook her frame until she had no more tears. "I did what had to be done," she sighed, entering her parent's bedroom. She lied down on their clean, white sheets and set her brother beside her. With the soothing sound of rain on the roof, Josephine soon fell asleep, waking from the nightmare.


	2. Chapter 1: Love is

Charlotte glanced out the window of her house. It was drizzling and slightly foggy. The conditions weren't bad enough to deter anyone who wanted to venture out, so she couldn't guess what was keeping him. She pulled a chair over and sat by the window, waiting. She wasn't aware of how much time passed when she finally saw a car passing in the distance. She jumped up before she realized it was only a mail carrier, but it was Sunday. The vehicle stopped in front of the house. Pulling on her thin, white sweater, she walked outside to see what was going on.

"Good morning Miss Charlotte," the mailman greeted, though his face was pale. He seemed distracted and he kept checking his watch.

"What are you out on a Sunday for? I know that no weather conditions stop the mail, but surely the Lord's Day does." She was not accusing, but curious.

"I had to make a special trip for this." He handed her a letter in a small manila envelope. "It was urgent."

"Who sent it?" Charlotte asked. They must have been rather rich to get the mail center opened on a Sunday.

"No clue. I have to go." With that, the mailman walked quickly back to his truck and sped off. Charlotte watched as he disappeared into the fog. She glanced back over at the road where he should have been coming from and there was nothing. The road was unusually quiet, even for a Sunday. She assumed that it was the drizzle keeping everyone inside. Shrugging it off, she sat down on her porch swing and opened the envelope.

Inside was a letter on a very old and worn piece of paper and a pacifier. Charlotte's breath caught and she began coughing. She cleared her throat, recovering from her coughing fit, and opened the letter. It simply said "I forgive you." Charlotte's fingers trembled as she held the letter. She felt suddenly cold and began coughing again. Shivering, she turned to enter the house. Just as her hand was on the handle, she saw headlights.

She quickly ran to the sidewalk as the car rolled in front of her house, but something wasn't right. The car rolled slowly to a stop just beyond her house. It wasn't a car she recognized. She ran to the window and saw that there was no driver. "Was this pushed?" she asked aloud. She heard footsteps and turned, still clutching the manila envelope. She tucked it into her sweater and walked towards the footsteps to see if perhaps it was the owner of the car. "Hello?" she called.

There was no response; only footsteps. She ran forward, but soon stumbled on a crack in the sidewalk. She saw a figure in the distance. Catching her breath, she walked towards the figure. It was small. Perhaps it was a child playing. Charlotte began to feel slightly frightened. She stopped and waited for the figure to come towards her. When it did get close enough for her to start making out its features, she was distracted by the sound of thunder. She looked up and saw lightening streak across the sky. She turned back to the figure, but nothing was there.

Disturbed, she continued forward. She wasn't sure what compelled her forward, but perhaps, if she kept going in this direction, she would run into him since he didn't seem to be coming to her.

The envelope felt warm in her pocket, opposing the chill that the drizzle brought. She wasn't sure what the letter meant, but she figured that someone must know about her and what she'd done. That was impossible. She hadn't wanted it to happen anyways. It was him.

She couldn't think of that now.

The fog seemed to get thicker as she walked. The eerie silence followed her. No one was on the road. She actually didn't mind being alone, but she still wished that he could be here. This is the road he would have taken to get to her. It passed through Silent Hill. Maybe he had gotten distracted in the town or needed gas. There was nothing she had to do today and the cool air was refreshing on her bare knees. She was wearing the skirt she had planned on wearing to church that morning. They were going to go together when he picked her up. Church was long over by now and not even the cars of preachers or deacons who stayed later than everyone else were on the road. Nothing.

The stillness was rather unsettling. She never remembered the road being this long, but then again, the moments without him seemed long too. Time stood still. He was her everything because she no longer had anyone else. Finally she could see the sign of the town. It was a relief. She didn't feel tired, but she did want to sit. Just inside the city limits was a bench outside of one of the stores. She sat down. On the shop wall there was graffiti. It was a badly drawn cross in red. Underneath it was a familiar verse to anyone who had grown up in a religious community. "Love is patient; love is..." there were no other words beyond that.

That wasn't right. The verse was unfinished. Charlotte saw a can of red paint. The lid was rusty and the paint brush was covered in something foul, but she felt an unexplained desire to finish this verse. "Love is kind" would be the proper end, but that never seemed right to her. Anyone could be kind without loving you. Thinking of the letter and of him, true love was forgiving. So she finished the verse. "Love is patient, love is forgiveness..." and then heard the laughter of a child. Turning, she saw nothing. She was about to shrug it off, but she noticed on the bench was a picture she hadn't noticed before.

She picked it up and saw that it was a picture of the gas station. This was odd. Who had taken this? Then again, maybe he was there. She walked away from the bench to find the gas station.


	3. Chapter 2: What fog?

Charlotte knew that the way to the gas station was along the same road she'd been walking down. She hoped he would be there. She began walking down the center of the road so she could see both sides of the sidewalk in case his car had broken down and he had walked. That was another good reason. Maybe he just decided to walk and that's why he was late. Charlotte kept going through reasons as she walked. Suddenly there was a horrible squelching noise.

Charlotte turned, looking for the source. The fog was so thick that she could barely see anything. The squelching noise grew louder until it overwhelmed her senses and just as suddenly as it had come, she heard the noise fading into the distance behind her. She turned to look, but couldn't see anything. She breathed a sigh of relief as she turned back to head on her way, but that breath caught in her throat. Standing in front of her was a horrible and twisted child figure. The arms were twisted and split to form legs similar to an ant, though a horrible and twisted one. The back legs were shriveled and twisted together. The had was the most disgusting feature. The face of a girl with sunken eyes and greasy hair stared at her. The lips looked as if they had been ripped from her face and then where they had been had been badly stitched.

The eyes burned with hatred as it struck out with one of its long, spindley legs. Charlotte ran, fear clouding any previous thoughts she had had. She ran until she got to the gas station. She quickly ducked inside, not even checking to see if the monster was still behind her. "What was that?" she wondered aloud.

"What was what?" The sweet voice of a child asked. She moved from the door and saw a girl, probably around the age of 12, looking up at her curiously.

"There was a monster in the fog," Charlotte gasped, attempting to catch her breath.

"What fog?" The girl looked out the glass door. Charlotte did too and to her surprise, there was no fog. The town looked almost cheery and innocent. It didn't make sense; fog didn't disappear that quickly. Had she been dreaming it the whole time? Considering the monster, it was more like a nightmare.

"There was fog and a monster out there," Charlotte puzzled.

"It's okay; I believe you. There have been two others who yelled about monsters or fog or some other horror outside. I don't see them, but with three people claiming to see them; then they must be there," the girl looked a little troubled.

"What's your name?" Charlotte asked, hoping to lighten the mood.

"I'm Emily Bishop, but you can just call me Emily. And you?"

"I'm Charlotte Vanh-I mean I'm Charlotte Reynolds. What are you doing here all alone? You're too young to be going to a gas station all alone. Are your parents outside?" Charlotte looked outside and saw a car just like his. Was he here?

"No. My mom sent me here to get something. I'm afraid I don't exactly remember what it was or where it is. I figured if I looked around some of the places that sell things, it might help me remember." Emily looked blankly at the shelves of various candies and chips. "I don't think it's here."

"Do you want me to help you find it?"

"No, I'll be okay. I should go." Emily started towards the door.

"The monster's out there," Charlotte warned.

"I'll be fine," Emily smiled, "but for you, I'd suggest the rack over there. Most of them are broken, but the shot gun works."

"Thanks, but how do you know the shot gun works?" Charlotte turned, but Emily was gone. The fog was back and the store was in bad state of disarray. Charlotte clambored over the overturned shelves and broken bottles littering the ground and found the gun rack. There was a shot gun just like Emily had said. Charlotte picked it up, though she didn't think she could bring herself to use it.

She looked around and noticed that blood was splattered all over the freezers. What happened here? Charlotte didn't stick around to find out, exiting the store right away. As soon as she was outside, she heard the squelching noise again.

She held the gun out and looked around. There! The monster was scuttling towards her. Charlotte took a deep breath and fired. The bullet pierced the monster and it screamed. It sounded like the dying wail of a baby. That noise pierced Charlotte's heart and she felt faint. She regained her composure and walked over to the car that looked like his. When she got there, she was disappointed to see that it wasn't.

There was, however, a map in the driver's seat. It was a map of Silent Hill. One of the buildings was circled with a question mark beside it. Had this map belonged to one of the two others Emily had met? Had they gone to this building? Was he perhaps one of the people she had seen?

There was only one way to find out. With gun at the ready, Charlotte continued her walk deeper into Silent Hill.


End file.
